Kinko's & Coffee

January 19, 2009, 8:28 a.m.

Arrive into D.C. and head to the taxi stand. A man greets me and asks if I need a cab. I say "Yes," and he walks me to a pickup truck. This is no usual taxi, nor a taxi at all. No city markings, no fare meter above the dashboard. I'm either going to be kidnapped or have a pleasant, informative ride to my destination. Pause. It was the latter.

He said there is such a high demand for taxis with all the visitors to the city that they are using any cars they can get their hands on. He then points to a row of ten unassuming cars parked facing the wrong way down the one way street. "Secret Service," he said.

I paid him the ten bucks that he may or may not have arbitrarily set as the price of admission to a ride with a strange man.

I duck into the Starbucks on Pennsylvania Ave. in Market Square. Their latte was garbage, and no outlets were to be seen for my laptop.

I walk down the street and head into a FedEx Kinko's.

Using their internet at 25c per minute. Going to head out to the National Mall now and see the face of it all. Going to meet up later with my friend John who is covering the festivities for his DePaul University newspaper. Right now he is meeting Lonnie Bunch.

Check in with me later...